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San Antonio’s Xenex Debuts Hospital-Cleaning “Pod” After Adding $38M

San Antonio — Xenex Disinfection Services, a healthcare company that raised $38 million in February, is now selling a new device for its machine that rids hospital rooms of infection-causing bacteria and viruses: a portable “pod” in which equipment can be disinfected.

Xenex’s primary product is a technology called the LightStrike Robot that uses pulses of ultraviolet light to destroy the viruses and bacteria in an entire hospital room, preventing potentially deadly infections like C.Diff and MRSA. The company’s new device is meant to clean other objects that frequently move around the hospital, such as wheelchairs, ventilators, mobile workstations, and other tools. They’re placed inside the Xenex pod along with the company’s robot. The pod looks like a collapsible tent and is lined with a reflective interior, which ensures that the entirety of the object is disinfected, Xenex says.

Xenex had the pods made by Los Angeles-based Mintie Technologies, a company that sells dozens of similar environmental services products. Each pod sells for $25,000, while the Xenex robot goes for $125,000. Xenex says the cost of treating a single infection acquired at a hospital can cost $10,000 to $50,000, so preventing a couple of potential contamination sites can pay for the cost of the technology.

Since its founding in 2009, Xenex has raised $94 million, including the $38 million round led by Essex Woodlands, a healthcare-focused investment fund with offices in Palo Alto, CA, Houston, New York, and London.

David Holley is Xconomy's national correspondent based in Austin, TX. You can reach him at dholley@xconomy.com Follow @xconholley